Saturday, July 31

One of our readers suggested this article would go well with the Strange but True homepage on the French Bulldog Rescue Network site this week.
We agree! All of these foods appear regularly in our diet and we are glad of it. Bananas are a special favorite, but if you smear a bit of peanut butter on a bite of banana, we'll follow you anywhere proclaims
The Frog Princess

Wednesday, July 28

Helene asks, "Does the French Bulldog Rescue Network ever help french bulldog owners who can't pay for medical emergency care for their pet Frenchie?"

Hello, Helene!

The short answer to your question is "No." From time to time someone writes the website and asks for information on organizations that offer help to families in need and we send out this list that one of our volunteers found awhile ago now. We don't know if it is current. Given the current economy, we hope that there are additional, possibly local, venues for assistance.

"The heartbreak happens all too often a pet owner is unable to afford treatment and their sick or injured companion animal pays the price. If the owner is elderly, disabled or on a fixed income, the cost of care may be too much of a stretch for their pocketbook. Perhaps they have been victimized by crime, property loss or a job layoff and are experiencing a temporary financial hardship making it too difficult to afford pet care. And some animals, brought to clinics by Good Samaritans, don't have an owner to pay for treatment. Whatever the situation, the fact remains the same: When sick or injured animals are unable to receive veterinary care, they suffer. Through the AAHA Helping Pets Fund, veterinary care is possible for sick or injured pets even if they have been abandoned or if their owner is experiencing financial hardship."

"Angels4Animals, a non-profit organization and a program of Inner Voice Community Services, has a mission to serve as the guardian angel of animals whose caretakers find themselves in difficult financial situations. At Angels4Animals we believe that animal owners should not have to say goodbye to the animals that they love. Our work is accomplished in conjunction with veterinary clinics across the country, eager to assist as many animals, and their owners, as possible. Our services range from financial aid to complete treatment to those pets and pet owners in need."

Care Credit www.carecredit.com

A credit card company for health care, including veterinary care. "CareCredit, the leader in patient/client financing, has helped more than 3 million patients/clients get the treatment or procedures they needed and wanted. With a comprehensive range of plan options, for treatment or procedure fees from $1 to over $25,000, we offer a plan and a low monthly payment to fit comfortably into almost every budget."Brinks and a boy.

Help-A-Pet http://www.help-a-pet.org/ home.html "Our efforts focus on serving the elderly, the disabled, and the working poor. For lonely seniors, physically/mentally challenged individuals and children of working parents, pets represent much more than a diversion."

IMOM http://www.imom. org "Mission Statement: Helping people help pets. To better the lives of sick, injured and abused companion animals. We are dedicated to insure that no companion animal has to be euthanized simply because their caretaker is financially challenged."

The Pet Fund http://thepetfund. com/ "The Pet Fund is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit association that provides financial assistance to owners of domestic animals who need urgent veterinary care. Often animals are put down or suffer needlessly because their owners cannot afford expensive surgery or emergency vet visits. Companion animal owners must often make the difficult decision to put an animal down or neglect urgent medical needs because of the costs involved. The purpose of the Pet Fund isto work towards a future where decisions about companion animalmedical care need never be made on the basis of cost."

United Animal Nations http://www.uan. org/lifeline/ index.html "The mission of LifeLine is to help homeless or recently rescued animals suffering from life-threatening conditions that require specific and immediate emergency veterinary care. We strive to serve Good Samaritans and rescue groups who take in sick or injuredanimals. In certain cases, LifeLine can also assist senior citizens and low-income families pay for immediate emergency veterinary care."

"From time to time, HandicappedPets. com recognizes a caretaker of handicapped pets that need some special attention, and a little extra help. There are those who are so selflessly dedicated to their animal families that they give up a little more than they can afford."

And that is the list we found a while ago on the Internet. Of course, there may be local support organizations for people who are in economic straits, and the more determined to find them you are, the more likely it is that you'll find them. Earlier this week, ASPCA announced that with other animal welfare groups, The Gulf Coast Companion Animal Relief Program has been launched to help families whose lives have been crushed by the BP oil catastrophe to keep their pets. This program covers routine health care for pets, including spay/neuter.

Madelyn Rose working the camera!

One option mentioned above for emergency care is the CareCredit card. Some of our volunteers have used this credit card--which is very handy, because if you pay on time, the first year is interest-free--but they warn that a late payment can result in a high interest rate being applied to the remainder of the loan's payoff period. It may make as much sense to use a standard credit card depending on your situation and ability to pay, but of course you should weigh the risks and benefits.

Tuesday, July 27

Yesterday we gave you an update on Killian Red and today we have a photo of young Porter, post-op!

This is the boy who was flung in the yard to survive the Louisiana summer heat while his family went on vacay.

The tumor was benign! Thank heavens, those needle biopsies can be wrong from time to time! But his tumor is gone and so are a few of his teeth and some of his poor jawbone. But look! You can see his tongue instead of that enormous tumor. Isn't that a pretty picture? Porter is feeling fine as fish hair, as they like to say in some parts of the southern US, and he is looking so handsome!

Thank you to all our generous supporters and sponsors for making his surgery possible.

It won't be long before he's going to be prêt-à-porter and the day we start taking applications for him it's going to be worse than the basement wedding gown sale at Filene's. You watch and see, foretells

Monday, July 26

Here's an update on Killian, the good looking red-headed boy who was hit by a car and left in the road a few weeks ago:

"First of all – he is PRECIOUS! Next – he is becoming a sincere momma’s baby! I really have to get after him for his crying and whining when I need to put him in a crate. LOL But, great news – if you’ll remember, the day we took him in with his broken jaw, he was also dragging his back legs – both the result of a car hitting him. Well, this weekend was a month since he came to us and the vets and surgeons have really studied his backend and why he was dragging it – they could find nothing on the x-rays showing a broken bone or disks. It has gradually started getting better – he began walking on three legs. We were happy about that. This past week, he began gingerly putting down the fourth leg! He has tried to jump up on us, which we quickly bend down so he will stop trying to jump – his legs just aren’t strong enough – but last night I was on the phone and he came up to the chair I was in and stood up on his hind legs, leaning on the chair, for me to love on him. He could do it! He has begun running, with a tiny limp on one side, but he is thrilled and so are we. He is amazing! The jaw is healing well – he is out of his cone and looks like a real dog now instead of a bubble boy. LOL Just wanted to share his great news. Oh – the vets did say they have suspected that he could have had a hairline fracture of the pelvis, which would not be corrected surgically, would not be able to be seen on the films, but would just heal over time. The legs are working!"

We are all so happy that Killian is coming around and doing so well. Thanks to the motorist who stopped to pick him up and took the time to find FBRN, thanks to Killian's foster mom, and thanks to the donors, sponsors and supporters of FBRN who made it possible to get Killian in to see the vet and get him fixed up!The Frog Princess

Friday, July 23

One of our volunteers has a husband who writes for a newspaper. He wrote about their experience fostering Cecil, who went to his forever home this week. It's a very nice article about our volunteer and her commitment to Cecil and about FBRN.

We all love to see the smiles of our adopters as they see their dogs for the first time. Cecil's foster mom reported: "The first thing [Cecil's new mom] said was that Cecil was even MORE beautiful than in the photos I've been sending ..."

Who could disagree? The frog is fabu. And we can see the Mick Jagger resemblance.

Thursday, July 22

Flo, named for Florence Nightingale, arrived in FBRN's care this week. She's a precious little puppy who was purchased in a famous chain of petstores.

Following months of treatment for demodex, Flo's vet looked her over and thought she should be seen by an orthopedic vet because her hips seemed to be popping in and out a bit.

Her owner, who is going through chemo, felt she might not have the strength and energy to care for Flo as well as herself. As you might imagine, it was a very, very sad and difficult surrender for Flo's owner as well as our volunteers.

Please keep a good thought for Flo's owner, who was selfless enough to do the right thing for her dog. And take a look at the beautiful face on this darling girl!

Uh, oh, wait a minute. Is that a mischievous little grin she's trying to hide? Do you see it, or is it just us?

Whether or not she turns out to be a mischief maker, we are pretty sure there's not a thing that could be done to make her one speck or iota more adorable, judges

Tuesday, July 20

We got a little update about Capt. Mac, one of our fosters who has had a tough row to hoe.

"Mac has been suffering from some IBD / sensitive tummy issues. He began to lose weight and has been eating ID food for a while. This seems to have helped him a lot, along with his nice thundershirt. He is
enjoying a relaxing Summer waiting for someone to come and adopt him.

He is still a bit of a phantom puddler around the house and on the deck if not watched, he really loves to make his mark and cover up any scent of other dogs.

Here is Mac snoozing in one of his favourite places."

Boy, doesn't he look innocent? I wouldn't think that a sweet, sleepy guy like that might sneakily sneak around the joint piddling on things.

Saturday, July 17

Poor Mario, his owner was yet another victim of the vicious economy. There were lots of tears when his family had to give him up. Mario is fortunate--there was a family waiting for a little brindle boy just like him! He moved all the way from the blazing hot heat of Texas to the pretty hot heat of SoCal. He's got a little sister named Stella to play with and a kind of cranky Chihuahua named Murphy to observe their foolishness. Here's what his family wrote as he was settling in earlier this month:

"Thought I'd pass along some photos of Mario. He is doing great...already
comfortable with our routine. He and Stella are absolutely inseparable!
Their favorite pastime is to tease one another with toys, then proceed to
chase one another around trying to get the toy. Which usually ends in an
exciting game of tug of war.

Mario seems to LOVE the weather here. He goes
outside multiple times a day to sniff around and lay in the sun. He has
also learned to get very excited when he sees his harness and leash come
out, because we go on long walks after dinner. We started him off slowly
the first couple of days, but today we did a 3/4 mile walk and he handled it
beautifully!"

It's great for our foster families to hear from their adopters, and volunteers love to hear about happy endings, too. That Mario! What a great grin he's sporting there. No question that he's a happy boy. Thanks to our sponsors and donors for another wonderful story, says

Sprite (Moo to her foster family) is a darling little pied girl. Her mom wrote us with this detailed update last week. And some great photos!

"It's been a busy week. Busy with cleaning. Sprite, or Moo as we've ended up calling her here, has one accident a day. For a couple of days it was peeing in her crate in the afternoon. I had a pillow in it and it went through the wash a couple of times as a result. Then around midnight she peed on her dog bed, which is next to my side of the bed. My boyfriend woke me up as he could hear it happening (I was dead asleep). There was another pee in the stairwell yesterday while we were waiting for Zadie, my little slow poke, to get down the stairs. Can't quite figure it out, except she seems to like to pee on pillows and she will pee in the stairwell if she has to wait for Zadie. Although the pillows seem to be a much more consistent trigger. It's a shame because she came with a nice big dog bed but the last two nights she's been sleeping on my housecoat.

Since my last email I've noticed that she is protective/possessive of her food around Zadie but will let me take it away from her without a fuss.

Zadie tests Moo's patience, and mine, with her puppy shenanigans. When it's too much I've been crating Zadie as she doesn't mind it and it calms her down. Moo has always been fine with the play biting, pawing, and barking.

...I haven't yet taken Moo to the vet but would like to on the weekend & get her left ear rechecked. It still looks swollen and I'm running out of antibiotic ointment. Moo's fur is still coming out at her back end & she's starting licking her front paws. Perhaps a course of Benadryl would help her out. Something to talk to the vet about.

Moo walks on the slow side with rolling hips but isn't in pain. I still carry her up & down the stairs. There is no knuckling. Moo lets out a little warning bark if she hears unusual noise, but she doesn't get carried away."

All this piddling on pillows puts us in mind of a pup who is making her mark in a new place after a few moves in a row. Could be that she wants the world to know the comfy pillow is SPRITE'S pillow! We hope she soon settles in and feels that she doesn't have to leave her mark everywhere. She'll be much easier to live with when she feels more confident, asserts

Saturday, July 10

Last year we posted an "Ask Frog Princess" piece and answered many of the questions over the course of the following few months. If your question wasn't addressed or you have a new question for us, please post it in the comments section below. By the way, this is a photo of Babbs, one of our visually impaired dogs, taking a walk with her foster mom's granddaughter.

Friday, July 9

Chico has been fostering over in Hawai'i for a month or two. His original family didn't realize he was deaf, so as you can imagine, there was a lot of frustration on both parts. When his foster mom took him as far as she could in terms of training, she kindly and generously flew him to the mainland to be fostered with a trainer, who will work with him on hand signals and socializing. First, Chico will be spending just a few nights in a layover with Dakota's foster family. Here is the first report on the adorable but rascally Chico:

"Chico the adorable little Deaf jetsetter arrived late last night from Hawaii. His very caring foster mom brought him over so he could have a better chance on the mainland to get adopted. R. has arranged a great foster home in WA with a trainer already in the making. We are doing a mini evaluation while he is here until the weekend.

He was really wound up after being on his best behavior flying over. He had a big thirsty drink, settled in on the drive after about 20 mins, got home, had a nice walk out in the yard, a light bite and with just a few minutes of quiet whines, settled in for a deep sleep.

Until he is transported this weekend I want to allow him decompression time. J. and I had a nice long chat and her information was incredibly helpful. He was very reactive at her place (she has 2 intact males and Chico would go crazy at just the sight of them), but he was fine with her females. He would spin and bite at the crate door when she tried to shut it, once knocking it off as he charged it. Goes NUTS behind a gate or x-pen if he sees other dogs. There is a clear trigger to each of these isolated reactive behaviors and that means a great chance of working it out! Being deaf he is highly sensitive, and only recently has anyone even realized that, so poor guy just needs some structure, calm and steady guidance, and he will blossom in no time. Big thanks to J. for getting this guy into FBRN.

He is in my office with an open crate and his foster dad set up a baby gate on the door; there is a second barrier with an x pen blanketed so no one can be set off. This way everyone in the house can smell each others' presence, but there is no fence fighting to get things off on the wrong foot. We can keep our guys in the other room or even out back, then we take Chico out for exercise, potty and sniffin' around. IF we introduce him to anyone at all while he is here, it will be Dakota on a nice long walk. We'll see how it goes. As I said, I think Chico just needs some down time for a bit to ease the stress and tension of all the changes.

I'm staying home today and tomorrow, spending some time just being present in the room with him, then rotate him outside for a bit. He's doing great and you can see he is starting to unwind...."

It is so exciting to watch these dogs with a past grow into dogs with a future. The introduction time our foster mom is talking about is SO important when bringing a new dog into a home. There are some families that will allow a dog to just walk in and all the dogs, old and new, can get along immediately. But it's stressful on the new dogs to be introduced to a new environment so quickly. It's much better to give the new dogs a separate space--maybe a guest room or a guest bath or laundry room--where they can start to get the smell of other dogs, and get used to the sounds and vibrations of the house and the rhythms of daily life.

Think about how you feel after a long plane ride to a strange place and strange people. It's nice to get a chance to meet just a couple of friendly people first, maybe take a nap, have some wind-down time. The difference is, the worst that can happen if you get thrown into most new families is someone might be rude to you. For dogs, it's about survival--teeth can be involved. It's frightening. Be kind to your new dog and give him a couple of days to get his bearings, urges

Thursday, July 8

Our girl Kiki has been waiting patiently for the right people to come along since last summer. She's a very good girl, and she loves her people! She has a few quirks, but she's a loving, sweet-natured dog in the main.
Kiki was a breeder girl who was inappropriately placed with an older couple who didn't have the energy or know-how to manage her. Kiki quickly became top dog in the home, and when a cable guy came by one day, she bit him. We don't know any more than that about the circumstances--just that she bit the cable guy.

Exit Kiki from the elderly couple's home and into FBRN.

Because she bit the cable guy, she has the bite label, and that is probably turning people many people off. She's a dominant girl, and unless she gets the consistent message that she is not the boss and there will not be an opening for any management positions any time soon, she will test and test again. Although she now lives reasonably happily with two foster siblings and last week even initiated play for the first time since she got into foster care, she would far prefer be the only spoon in your cereal bowl.

Kiki sounds like she's all rotten, but really she's almost all good with just a few bruised areas. If she were a peach, she'd make a very tasty jam or cobbler!

Kiki loves to go for walks and she loves to cuddle with her people. When she first wakes up, she likes to stretch out by reaching up her person as high as she can and pat-pat-pat with her paws. She loves to be held upside down like a baby and have her tummy rubbed. She would lie that way for hours if she could.

She hates the camera and she isn't very photogenic, because she always lowers her head between her shoulder blades like Snoopy doing his vulture thing. But we got some new photos of Kiki out among the flowers last week, and we hope that seeing her in this venue might help people see her as we do: mostly lovely, with just a few broken petals.

Kiki deserves a home and family of her own. If you are willing to consider her, check out her bio and see if she might be the carnation for your buttonhole, the peach for your pie, the chutney for your curried chicken, extravagantly poetizes

Wednesday, July 7

We've received many loving notes from our donors to Killian and we wanted to update you on his progress.

From his foster mom:

"Killian – sweet, sweet Killian. He is doing well – still hobbling a bit on one back leg, but getting around SOOOOOO much better than when he arrived. He gets along with all of the dogs in this pooch haven and that is so awesome. They are all very inquisitive about the cone, but he is good about letting everyone check it out. He hasn’t played a lot with any of them, but he may not feel up to it yet. He is still on pain meds from the jaw surgery, but is eating like a lumberjack. LOL He does well for his baths and loves to be snuggled. He is very attached to me and on the weekend, he didn’t even want to poop in the yard with my husband – he wanted mom to come with him. LOL Huge eye roll! Anyway, he sees the doc today for a checkup, but is coming along nicely."

He looks beautiful in his pink shell/throne, doesn't he? Lovely photo. We all want to say thank you to every donor who sent money for Killian's surgery and treatments. He's feeling a little better every day, thanks in large part to our friends, donors, and supporters.

Tuesday, July 6

In New England, where the weather is frequently muggy and hot in summer, Capt. Mac takes advantage of a cooling "blanket" in the shade. It's lovely to lie frogdog on a nice cool surface and let physics do its evaporation thing.
If one can find a couple, three people willing to wave some fronds in the air and feed one grapes, it's even better, but one takes what one can get and is grateful for it, bravely observes

Monday, July 5

This little dog is another one in dire straits that we could not turn away. With Porter and Killian, she'll be causing us to dig once more into the couch cushions looking for every penny we can find. Worst of all, she's in California, where vet costs are at least 1/3 again as much as they are in the midwest.

Unfortunately, she needs an operation fast, and we don't have time to move her.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Miracle came to us from Animal Control, who seized her from a yard full of at least 6 dogs and a lot of dog dirt.They responded when the neighbors called reporting a dreadful racket. It appears the dogs had gotten into a terrible fight and Miracle took the brunt of it.

Animal Control took her into custody, stitched up her torn ear, removed a couple of teeth that were barely hanging on, and spayed her. The owners relinquished ownership to Animal Control and Animal Control called FBRN.

She's got a couple of dirty ears, she's quite underweight, and she is still lactating from a recent litter, but Miracle's major problem is a torn up, broken shoulder. She will require a special surgery that involves a pin and a tension band--this is the option that will most likely el iminate pain and return full use of the limb. It's an expensive surgery. It will cost over 2,000 dollars and closer to 3,000, even with a discount. Here's what her foster mom had to say about her:"She carries that stuffed tigger around like a baby. She takes all of her toys nite nite, then she lies down to nurse them. She tries to suck my finger, now that she lets me get close enough. Almost like she (like her recent litter) was taken away from her mommy too young....

She is very loving, but clearly afraid. She is also afraid of seeing other dogs until she is familiar with them. She is still totally separated from my dogs, but shows no aggresion to others through barriers. She wants to get better. She really does. She is terrified, but oh, so willing, if she knows what I want. She is starting to trust me. Just in time, as we are going to have a long road of rehab, we are going to have to trust each other, learn a lot from each other, while we patiently get her through this and work out the emotional hurts at the same time....

Animal control really came through."

These needy dogs are falling like the gentle rain onto the place beneath. We are hoping the quality of mercy has not been strained in the past few weeks, and our friends and supporters can once more give us a hand with these dogs we just could NOT refuse.

Would you get a load of that darling face? How could anyone say no to her?

We can't refuse these neediest of the needy: a dog who was run over and left in the highway to die; a dog who was flung in the backyard to die of exposure or cancer, whichever came first; and this precious girl who was the victim of neglect and then a nasty dog-pile.

It's so important to all of us that someone be here for these dogs that our Junior Volunteers will sell soda; our grown up volunteers will use their crafty skills to raise money; our foster families will open their homes to these needy beasts; and our friends will step up to help, too. You never fail.

Friday, July 2

"Just a fast update on Porter. I know many of you are following his medical condition. His foster dad took him for xrays today to see if his lungs have any cancer and what his heart looks like from the heart worms. The good news is the lungs and heart look good. The xrays were sent to a radiologist to confirm. The bad news is the vet saw swollen lymph nodes. We will know more next week. Pray for him he is such a sweetie pie and has stolen his foster dad's heart."

Thursday, July 1

A few Good Samaritans pooled their money and bought Junebug out of durance vile at the hands of a disreputable breeder. Arrangements were made to acquire her, and Junebug was picked up in dark of night in an empty parking lot. Friends, if a breeder won't allow you to come to their home and see their facilities, that is a very bad sign. If they want to meet you after dark in a parking lot in a bad part of town, that's another bad sign. We don't encourage our friends and supporters to ever do anything dangerous, even for a Frenchie in trouble. But once Junebug was in our care, we were glad our Good Samaritan friend and her husband made the trip.

Junebug was adopted a few months ago, and from time to time we hear from her adopter. We love to hear from adoptive families. It can be hard to let these dogs go, but knowing that they are so beloved makes it easier for our foster families. Here's a note from Junebug's mom, talking about Junie and her sister Gigi:

"I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that Junebug is doing great. She has had no health issues and has fit into our family perfectly.
Her personality has changed dramatically in the past few months. She is definitely the top dog around here! She never fights with Gigi but just gives her a look that means drop that toy! She has filled out a little more and her coat has continued to improve. It is nice and shiny now.
She has had a few accidents when someone else has been watching her and we deviate from our routine, but seems to understand that I really don't like for her to do that!
I hope you and your family are doing well and are having a nice summer. We are having a cool spell here and it has been great. Thanks again for picking me to be Junie's new mom."

Seems that Junebug is a girl after our own heart. Iron fist in a velvet glove and one look that can stop another frog in her tracks? Yes, that is the kind of Frenchie born to be a benevolent despot, not unlike